Monsters in your Head
by therealshawn
Summary: After Fitz and Simmons are involved in a lab accident, things start going horribly awry. She decides to go looking for answers, and he gets dragged along. He never imagines just how much his life will change... Superpowers AU, eventual Skitz
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: Hello all! _

_So, I know that Skitz and BioSpecialist may not be the most popular pairings in the fandom, but I fell in love with them and have been wanted to write a multific for a while now. This is a superpower-based AU that I'm co-writing with the lovely Caitlin51. It'll take a little while for Skye to show up, but eventually it will be SkyexFitz and WardxSimmons._

_IMPORTANT NOTE: This fic is co-authored by __**Caitlin51**__, and she and I are also co-authoring the other side of this fic on her account. It is called _"_**Crash and Burn" **__and shows this same story from the BioSpecialist viewpoint. I strongly suggest reading them both! While this fic will be a complete story in and of itself, as will the other one, they will complement each other, give you scenes that you normally wouldn't see, and give you large parts of the story that happen when the characters are split up._

_Enjoy this first chapter and please, please leave a review!_

* * *

><p>Leo Fitz poked around the small kitchen, rummaging through drawers until he found a bottle of Aspirin. His hands shook as he twisted the lid off and poured the pills into his palm. It had been a long day, and his head wouldn't stop pounding.<p>

He had stopped in to see Jemma in her lab after his department had closed for the day, knowing that she would still be stressing over her big experiment. He could tell as soon as he had walked in that it hadn't gone well. She had refused to make eye contact, rushing back and forth and ordering him to wait on the bench and not touch anything. And he had tried, he really had, but then he had found four different ways to improve the efficiency of the titration system set up on her table, and one thing had led to another which had led to an explosion, and…

Fitz shook his head, trying to clear his mind. He looked around and noted that Jemma still wasn't out of the shower. _What was taking her so long?_ Suddenly anxious, he walked over to stand outside of the bathroom door and tried not to feel awkward as he listened for any signs of movement. He heard her music playing loudly, some twangy country nonsense, but the shower drowned out any noise she might have been making. He leaned in to the door and raised his voice, "You already showered at the lab. I don't see what shampoo is going to do that the soap there didn't."

He heard her gasp, and couldn't help the twinge of relief that shot through him. "Go away, Fitz," she commanded.

He rolled his eyes and went back to the living area. He perched on the couch but almost immediately stood up again and started pacing across the worn carpet. After another minute he decided to turn on the TV, quickly flipping through channels before settling on _Agents of SHIELD. _He managed to sit still and watch the episode for a minute or two but his hands were still shaking and he decided to try eating something.

The only problem was that Jemma reorganized her kitchen at least once a week and so he had to hunt for anything edible every time he came over. "Jemma! Did you move the popcorn again?"

He heard her shout from the bathroom, "One second, Fitz!"

A few moments later she emerged from the hallway, wearing loose sweats and a t-shirt. Her long hair was loose and still dripping down her back, and her arm was—

Gone.

He gaped, eyes shooting between her inexplicably calm face and the space where her right arm should have been. "I'm just going to go over the experiment one more time," she said, reaching for the bag she had left on the couch, "and then we can watch your silly show." She sat on the couch beside him, completely oblivious.

He managed to be only slightly offended by the insult to his third favorite television show, most of his attention being caught up by his friend's missing limb. "Er, Jemma?"

She crossed her arms (well, arm) in front of her defensively. "Oh come on, Fitz, I said this was the last time. And then I promise that I'll put it down. Okay?"

"No, uh, Jemma, I think that-"

"-I'll be really fast, Fitz, I promise," she cut him off, looking through the folder she held open on her lap.

"Your arm, Jemma!" he finally exclaimed. He pointed towards the gaping space but couldn't bring himself to touch it.

Obviously confused, Jemma looked down. "Oh no," she muttered, sounding disconcerted but not nearly as upset as he thought she should be. "That's not right."

"Not right? Jemma, your arm is gone! I don't - what happened?"

She kept looking down without acknowledging him "I can still feel it." The folder slid off her lap but neither of them made any effort to pick it up. "It's never done that before."

Completely exasperated, Fitz threw his arms in the air. "Oh, well that's okay then. As long it's never happened before then it's totally - -Jemma! Your _arm _is _missing_! Could you please quit being so calm?"

"I wonder…" she mumbled, and he was more than a little bit unnerved by the gleam of excitement in her eyes.

"Yes, well, I wonder, too. But I am experiencing a healthy amount of panic, and not just gazing at my nonexistent arm like it's the best thing since CERN invented the Large Hadron Collider." He took a deep breath and continued, "I get that you're a biochemist and that crazy...crazy _shenanigans_ like this might happen to you on a more regular basis, but in the _engineering _department we don't just have...Wait, do things like this happen to you on a regular basis? Jemma, has your - Jemma?"

"This is amazing," she breathed, completely ignoring him. He jumped back slightly as her other arm suddenly disappeared as well. "Could I be doing something to the light particles in my immediate vicinity? That seems unlikely, but no other hypotheses are coming to mind..." she trailed off, completely distracted. Fitz tried waving his hand in front of her face but for several moments she didn't respond. Finally she looked up at him, a worrisome grin on her face. "I have to get back to the lab."

Fitz rolled his eyes, knowing that there would be no changing her mind, and continued grumbling as he followed her out the door.

…

_Two Weeks Later_

_..._

"So, we can cross Sally Markson off our list." Leo Fitz looked up from his over-salted fries to the woman across the table. She was scribbling in a notebook, her brow furrowed and her salad completely ignored.

"Jemma, I hate to be discouraging," he pointedly ignored her raised eyebrow, "but that's the thirty-seventh 'lead' we've had that's turned out to be nothing. We've been all over the state looking for something that might not even be there."

She smiled at him, eyes bright. "It will be. Just think, Fitz, about the chance we have. This is groundbreaking research, of course it's gonna take a bit of searching. And besides, we still have three names to go."

He slid the notebook out from under her hands, absentmindedly shoving more fries into his mouth. "G. Thomas. Suspected pyrokinesis. Last known...Jemma, this report is eighteen years old."

"But our next best lead," she insisted firmly. "The others have even less information than this one."

He rolled his eyes. "You do realize that just because other files have 'even less information' that doesn't make this one a solid lead, right? Jemma, I just," he sighed, "I think you're going to be disappointed when none of this pans out."

She leaned in, refusing to listen to reason. "No, Fitz, I have a feeling about this one." He resisted the urge to point out that she had had 'feelings' about the last twelve names on the list. "Please? If he doesn't pan out, we can take a break."

He recognized the determined look in her eyes and knew that his logic wasn't going to win this particular argument. "Okay, fine." He poked emphatically at the list in front of them, "But this is the last one."

_...Please review!..._


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: Yay! We've finally got chapter two up! I promise that Skye will appear soon, as will an actual plot._

_IMPORTANT NOTE: This fic is co-authored by __**Caitlin51**__, and she and I are also co-authoring the other side of this fic on her account. It is called _"_**Crash and Burn" **__and shows this same story from the BioSpecialist viewpoint. I strongly suggest reading them both! While this fic will be a complete story in and of itself, as will the other one, they will complement each other, give you scenes that you normally wouldn't see, and give you large parts of the story that happen when the characters are split up._

_Please read + review!_

…

"Anything? An address? A neighbourhood, even?"

Fitz hung back as Jemma questioned a shopkeeper in a greasy apron. They had tracked the mysterious G. Thomas to the tiny town of Ward, New York, but no one had seen or heard from him in over fifteen years and the unhelpful old man standing in front of them just shook his head. "Sorry. Can't help you."

Jemma sighed and Fitz knew she was fighting to remain patient. "No, I don't think you understand. We _have _to find him. It's a matter of the utmost urgency."

The old man shrugged. "What, he owe you money or something?"

"Or something." Fitz smiled awkwardly, looking around the tiny bookstore and hoping that Jemma would give up soon so they could leave.

"Do you at least have some idea of where else we could look?"

The old man shoved his hands in his pockets. "Listen, last I heard the boy was living in the City. Up near Brooklyn. But that was ten years ago."

"Finally, our first real lead." Fitz tried to ignore the hopeful look Jemma shot his way, rolling his eyes. While being shoved out the door, he called a hurried _thank you_ to the shop owner.

"Well, that went well," she chirped, real excitement in her voice. "I knew that someone here had to recognize him."

Fitz shook his head, wondering once again how she managed to remain so consistently optimistic. "Yeah, this is...really great. We've now narrowed it down to 'possibly up near Brooklyn'."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, perk up Fitz. We've finally found something concrete to go on."

Half-hoping that this time he could somehow convince her to give up on the search, he asked, "So what's the next step? We can't just canvas neighborhoods."

She grinned and he knew he had lost again. "No, but I know where we could go."

…

"Uh, excuse me?"

Fitz's head snapped up, his eyes immediately drawn to the mirror. He saw the man standing behind him, eyebrow raised and arms folded impatiently, but couldn't remember for the life of him what had just happened. "Sorry?"

"Dude, you've been washing your hands for five minutes. They're clean, okay?"

"Oh, uh," he looked down at his hands under the running water. "Sorry." He turned the sink off, awkwardly drying his hands on his pants as he brushed past the other man.

As he pushed the bathroom door open he saw Jemma leaning against the desk at the front of the room, chatting with a gangly man in a tight blue uniform. He hesitated, not wanting to interrupt if she was still trying to "work an angle," but when he heard a high-pitched giggle and saw her scribbling something on a piece of paper, he rushed over.

He stood just behind his friend and cleared his throat expectantly, but when neither she nor the cop paid any notice to him he spoke up. "Any luck?"

Jemma started and whirled around. "Fitz! What have I told you about sneaking up on me?" She paused, turning to grin widely at the man behind the desk. "And yes, this nice officer is going to help us find...my ex."

Fitz narrowed his eyes, confused, but before he could ask anything the officer spoke up. "So, Miss Simmons, who's this? Your brother?"

Leo and Jemma simultaneously looked up at the man, each with an eyebrow raised and a questioning look on their face. She recovered more quickly than he did, and smiled even more widely, if that was possible. "Yes! This is my Fitz, I mean...my brother. My brother Fitz! Fitz...Simmons…"

More confused than ever, Fitz started to protest until Jemma stomped on his foot. "Yes! I am...Fitz Simmons. Nice to meet you." He extended a hand, which the other man pointedly ignored.

"So, Jemma_, _let me, uh, see what I can find for you. I'll be back in just a second." The cop winked at Jemma and Fitz resisted the urge to gag as she cheerfully thanked him.

"So, _Jemma,_" Fitz drawled, making fun of the drawn-out way Americans pronounced her name, "what was that all about?"

She refused to meet his gaze. "Oh, nothing. I was just convincing him to...share the files that we need."

"And how did you convince him?"

"I...was friendly? And smiled? Most people are really cooperative when you're nice. You should try it sometime!"

"You gave him your number, didn't you?"

"I...no, of course not!"

The officer walked up, holding a fairly thick, black file in his hands and making a show of trying to be discreet. He smiled at Jemma, "Hello, again. So...I have a file here on suspicious, unexplained fires and fire-related events in north Brooklyn. Unfortunately, I have to go on break right now. And I'm not going to take this file with me." Here he winked again, setting the file on the desk between them "I'm going to leave it on the desk, but that in no way means that you should open it. I have to caution you, that file is official police property, and under no circumstances should you pay particular attention to the incident report on pages four through six."

Jemma nodded and Ftiz could see her hands twitching towards the folder. "Of course not. We understand completely."

"But you should…" the officer continued, clearing his throat noisily, "Uh...you should be expecting a phone call. About...dinner. A very important phone call about dinner."

"Er, yes. I'm looking-" She stopped herself, realizing that he had already walked away. "Okay, then. The file."

She fingered through the assorted papers, her eyes scanning each page as quickly as possible. She inhaled sharply, and Fitz moved closer to look over her shoulder. She had her finger on an address not too far from the police station and a triumphant gleam in her eyes. "Look Fitz, there. This is him. I just know it!"

**...**

**Review, please!**


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Wow, sorry this chapter took so long to get up. If it's any consolation, I think chapter 4 is pretty much written already so it won't take nearly as long. Plus, Skye finally shows up next time! As does a little more plot! Thanks for being patient as we get these stories off the ground. Thanks to everyone who has followed/favorited/reviewed so far! Those things fuel me into writing faster, so keep it up!

_IMPORTANT NOTE: This fic is co-authored by __**Caitlin51**__, and she and I are also co-authoring the other side of this fic on her account. It is called _"_**Crash and Burn" **__and shows this same story from the BioSpecialist viewpoint. I strongly suggest reading them both! While this fic will be a complete story in and of itself, as will the other one, they will complement each other, give you scenes and character perspectives that you normally wouldn't see, and give you large parts of the story that happen when the characters are split up._

…

The sun was almost setting as Fitz climbed the stairs to the top floor of a ramshackle apartment building, trying not to visibly wrinkle his nose as he passed a drooling man who was passed out against the wall, a half-empty beer bottle clutched to his chest and a pile of cigarette butts at his side. He quickly caught up to Jemma, who was knocking on the faded door to apartment 305. She glanced at him, shaking her head defensively before he could even say anything. "This has to be it, Fitz," she gestured vaguely towards the door in front of her. "This one even smells like smoke."

Fitz didn't think that was as promising of a sign as she seemed to believe it was, since the whole building smelled like smoke. "I think that might be the man with the cigarettes, but okay."

"Positive attitude, Fitz. It's only the third floor; we can't give up yet." She scolded him, trying her best to sound cheerful, but he knew it had been a long day for her, too, and that the consistent lack of success was starting to wear down even her obstinate optimism.

He sighed, reaching in front of her to knock on the door again. "Maybe they didn't hear you."

"Can I help you?"

They both jumped at the deep voice behind them. They turned to face the tall, dark-haired man behind them. "Oh, erm, yes," Jemma piped up, "Do you live here?"

The man was staring her down in a way that made Fitz uncomfortable. He was watching her like she was a threat, something he had to be ready to eliminate at any moment. "Why?"

She pulled the faded newspaper clipping out of her pocket, carefully unfolding it and showing it to the man. She was obviously also unnerved by his threatening disposition, but seemed determined to talk to him. "Well, we're looking for someone. Have you seen him?"

The man didn't even glance at the photograph that she was trying to hand to him, but shoved past them impatiently and started unlocking the door to his apartment. "No."

Jemma continued speaking. "His name's G. Thomas, does that sound familiar?"

"Never heard of him."

"You didn't look."

The man whirled around, glaring at Jemma, and Fitz wished for the hundredth time that he had never let her talk him into leaving the lab. "Leave me alone," the man ordered, sounding more intimidating than ever.

"Look, it's really important that he find him. He has...he has a problem. And I think I may be able to help him."

Fitz was surprised to see the man hesitate, his face quickly displaying a myriad of emotions before once again settling into a cold, hard glare. "Can't help you."

Fitz started as the door slammed in front of them, impressed that it was still fairly intact considering the force that had been used to shut it. "That...went well."

Jemma stared at the closed door, fists clenched at her sides. "He's hiding something. No one is that...disagreeable. Not without a reason."

"Or maybe he just has a borderline personality disorder." At her sharp look he raised his hands in defeat, not wanting to hear another lecture on positive attitudes. "Okay, come on. One more apartment before dinner?"

...

Fitz walked down the narrow street, his hands in his pockets. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Jemma look over her shoulder for the fourth time and he knew she was seeing the same man that he had been noticing since they had left the apartment building. At first he had thought he was just being paranoid, and had avoided saying anything at the risk of receiving a chastising look and a talk about judging people based on appearances. But now she looked just as nervous as he felt. "Fitz, do you see that man? Is he following us?"

"I think so, actually. I noticed him a couple minutes ago."

Clutching her bag to her chest, she whispered, "He's scaring me."

Fitz knew that their car wasn't very much further away, but he also knew that, realistically, neither he nor Jemma were very well equipped for fighting anyone off. Should the man behind them choose to confront of attack them, their collective PhD's wouldn't be particularly helpful. "Maybe he's just walking to the same place we are."

She looked over her shoulder again. "Yeah. I'm sure that's it. I mean, I sometimes wear all black as well, so that's not necessarily cause to panic and assume he's a serial killer."

"Yeah."

After another moment of walking in silence Jemma nudged him lightly, her voice full of relief. "I think he's gone; I don't see him anymore."

She had barely finished speaking when a shaking, wild-eyed man, who couldn't have been much older than either of them, stepped out of a dark alley and directly in front of them. He waved a knife in one hand, gesturing towards Jemma's bag. "Give me your purse." He quickly turned to Fitz, "And I want your wallet. And your watch. Give me your watch, too."

Fitz could feel Jemma shaking beside him, and even though his eyes remained fixed on the man in front of them, he heard when she quietly murmured "Fitz?"

He had never felt quite so useless as when his best friend stood beside him, her voice shaking as she said his name, and he couldn't do anything to help. The mugger had no patience, however, and snapped at them, waving the knife even more wildly. "No talking. Just hand it over."

Slowly, Fitz pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and threw it on the ground. He started trying to pull his watch off, but his hands were shaking so badly that it was taking much longer than it should have.

Suddenly he heard Jemma gasp beside him, and he looked over to see both of her arms quickly disappearing. He started to panic, looking back and forth between his friend and the mugger, hoping that the man either wouldn't notice or that he would somehow disregard what he was seeing.

Unfortunately, it only took a moment for the man's eyes to widen, despite Jemma's valiant efforts to hide her invisible limbs behind her back. He jabbed the weapon towards her, fear and confusion making him more aggressive. "What are you doing?"

"N...nothing," she stammered.

Fitz stepped forward, waving his watch in front of the man's face. He had no idea what he was doing, but hoped that he would somehow be able to distract him. "Hey! Hey, man. Look...look at me!" The man was still gaping at Jemma, so Fitz stepped in even closer and spoke again. "What else do you want, besides my watch?"

"What's happening to her legs?"

"Her legs?" Fitz attempted to scoff disbelievingly, but it came out sounding more like a gasp. "Nothing's happening to her legs. Wh...what have you been...smoking?"

Fitz's heart dropped as the man suddenly lunged forward. "That's enough," he yelled, the knife pointed directly at Jemma.

She screamed and Fitz reached over, trying to pull her out of the way. Suddenly, there was someone else in front of them. A second man tackled the mugger, both of them falling to the ground in their struggle. They wrestled for the knife, everything happening so quickly that Fitz could barely keep up.

He wrapped his arm around Jemma's waist, desperately trying to tug her away so they could run to the car, but she refused to move, her eyes on the fight in front of them. Fitz looked as well, and instantly noticed that something strange was happening to the knife that they were struggling over. As he watched, the blade started to glow, quickly increasing in intensity until it was a bright red. The mugger yelped and dropped the knife, almost as if it had burned him. He scrambled to his feet and ran away, stumbling back into the alley as quickly as he could.

The second man didn't pursue him, but slowly rose to his feet and turned to face them

Even as Jemma was thanking him, Fitz realized that it was the same man who had angrily refused to help them earlier. And before either of them could say anything more, the man turned around and walked away.

...

_I reward reviews with faster updates and telepathic hugs!_


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Hey! Thank you all for the faves, follows, and reviews - keep them coming! Skye finally appears in this chapter, so let me know what you think!

_IMPORTANT NOTE: This fic is co-authored by __**Caitlin51**__, and she and I are also co-authoring the other side of this fic on her account. It is called _"_**Crash and Burn" **__and shows this same story from the BioSpecialist viewpoint. I strongly suggest reading them both! While this fic will be a complete story in and of itself, as will the other one, they will complement each other, give you scenes and character perspectives that you normally wouldn't see, and give you large parts of the story that happen when the characters are split up._

...

Fitz broke out of his daze first, immediately stepping to Jemma's side and looking for any signs of injury. "Jemma. Jemma! Are you okay?" She didn't respond but he continued to babble, his hands on her shoulders, and his eyes were quickly drawn to the red stain on the sleeve of her blouse. "Did he - oh my - oh, you're bleeding. Jemma, he stabbed you. Your arm is bleeding, we need to get you to -"

Without responding to him, she absently pushed out of his grasp and called after the man who was quickly making his way down the street and away from them. When he didn't respond, she started walking after him.

Startled, Fitz remained where he was. "Where are you going? Jemma?"

"Come back!" she cried, ignoring Fitz's question.

He couldn't believe that, even after the terrifying events of the past several minutes, her focus was still on this man. "Seriously?"

As she started to run she finally acknowledged him, yelling over her shoulder. "You won't believe this, Fitz, but he has powers too! I saw them."

"What?" He had seen the knife glow and how the mugger had reacted to it, but in the moments directly afterwards Fitz had tried to blame it on stress and faulty street lights.

Jemma, though, had apparently taken in stride.

"The knife," she called breathlessly. "It started glowing, red-hot. Like he was somehow heating the metal."

"That doesn't - we didn't-" He tried to come up with some sort of explanation that didn't involve that awful man having superhuman abilities, he really did, but even as tried to justify it he couldn't shake the growing suspicion that she might actually be right. He groaned. "Okay, let's go."

He started to run after her, but stopped and hurried back for his things and Jemma's purse, which were still lying on the sidewalk where they had been discarded in the struggle. Clutching them to his chest, he sprinted after her.

He was out of breath when he caught up to where she was standing in the middle of the street. He panted, looking between her and the man she had been chasing. He was running now, rapidly increasing the distance between them. Fitz couldn't help but notice that he was running into the city. "Isn't his apartment that way?" he asked, pointing behind them.

"Wha-?" she started, looking at him. She smiled. "Oh, yes. Yes it is."

…

Fitz woke with a start, groaning as Jemma's foot connected with his side. He slowly sat up, completely disoriented, and tried to focus on his surroundings. He heard Jemma speaking to someone and as he looked around he saw her walking away. He stumbled to his feet, his mind still fuzzy with sleep, and hurried after her.

As he caught up to her, he heard something about coffee and discussing something. Confused, he tried to ask what she was talking about, but all he managed to say was, "Why...coffee?"

"Keep up Fitz. Today's looking promising."

This only confused him further, and he shook his head in an attempt to clear it. He looked up again, and suddenly focused on the man who was walking just ahead of them. He groaned. It was the man from the day before.

He tried again to form a complete sentence, gently nudging Jemma's arm. "Where are we going?"

"To get coffee."

"Okay. And why is he here?"

"Well," she gestured to the man who was now several strides ahead of them, "Ward here wanted coffee, and I want answers. This way we both get what we want. And maybe he'll be more cooperative with the help of some caffeine."

"Okay. Caffeine sounds good." He stopped, still processing what she had said.

"I...uh...Ward?"

"I think he's actually G. Thomas, but…"

As they turned the corner, Jemma sped up to walk beside _Ward, _who practically flinched as soon as she started talking. Fitz trailed behind them but didn't join in the conversation, figuring it would be best to leave the interrogating and debating and general thinking up to her until after he finished waking up.

...

Skye sat in the corner booth, her laptop open in front of her, an empty coffee cup and a pair of gloves on the table beside it. She groaned and closed her eyes, leaning forward and resting her head in her hands. When she had walked into the coffee shop that morning, almost the instant that the doors had opened, it had been nearly empty. She had ordered her drink and settled in to work, hoping that business would remain slow until she could finish and get out. But the multiple firewalls and levels of protection that she was working on were trickier than expected, and now the brunch crowd was quickly filling the cafe.

She had tried turning up the volume on her music and pressing the headphones closer to her ears, but noise only did so much in a large crowd and the effort of fighting off the onslaught of thoughts and feelings was giving her a migraine. She sighed. There were a lot of angry people in the cafe this morning, some of them practically shouting. She looked around in irritation but was unable to pinpoint any sort of source.

Giving up, she started to gather her things. Shoving the computer into her bag, she tried to clear her head as words like "fire," "invisible," and "obnoxious" repeatedly slammed against her mental defenses. She chided herself for not knowing better, for staying in public for this long when she knew how it affected her.

She pulled the bag over her shoulder and shoved her gloved into one pocket of her jacket, upset that she had been so easily overwhelmed and that people were so loud, and confusing, and—"Crap." She looked up in horror, yanking her headphones off so she could hear the man in front of her babble apologies as he futilely shoved napkins into the growing puddle at her feet.

"Oh, my word—I – I am so—" He fumbled for the cups he had dropped, only managing to spill the remaining liquid onto her shoes. He groaned, refusing to meet her eyes. "Holy—"

"Hey, it's okay. Really," she reached out, settling a hand on his sleeve in an effort to still him. "It's okay, it's my fault. I wasn't watching where I was going. I—what's your name?"

As he finally abandoned the mess and looked up at her, Skye catalogued his features almost automatically. _Blue eyes. Brown hair, slightly curly. Average height. Cute_ _accent._

"Fitz. Er, Leo. Leo Fitz."

He was obviously flustered, and she couldn't help but smile despite the three full-sized coffees staining her blouse and pooling in her boots. "Well, Leo Fitz, I'm Skye." She extended her hand automatically, but gasped and pulled away as soon as he grabbed it, surprised by the intensity of the feelings she could sense.

_Confused. ._

She looked at him, wide-eyed and unable to speak, completely overwhelmed by the surge of emotions she had felt from him.

"Are you okay?"

"I...yeah, sorry...shock. Umm, electric shock. I have to go." She mumbled excuses and pushed past him, eager to escape and leaving a very confused Leo Fitz in her wake.

…

In a daze, Fitz walked back to the booth where he had left Jemma staring angrily at Ward. Not much had changed. He slipped onto the bench beside her, clutching the empty drink tray to his chest and not paying any particular attention to what they were arguing about this time.

"Where's the coffee?" Ward growled, completely insensitive to Fitz's plight.

"Decorating the front of a really beautiful woman's shirt," he murmured, gazing towards the door.

Fitz started from his reverie when Ward angrily shot to his feet. "That's it, I'm out." The tall man stalked out of the café, shoving the door open with more force than necessary and then storming out onto the street, and Fitz could have sworn that he saw literal smoke trailing behind him.

Jemma immediately started trying to follow him, shoving Fitz in her attempt to escape the booth. He knew what she was trying to do, and he refused to move. "What are you doing?" she demanded, and he could tell by the look in her eyes that she was trying to calculate how easy it would be to squeeze past him. "We need him!"

He shook his head lightly, keeping his gaze focused on her. "No, Jemma. He's a dangerous man and you've very successfully irritated the absolute heck out of him. It's probably not the best plan to go after him."

"Fitz," she pleaded, "I need to study him. I have to find out about his powers."

He sighed, "To find a way to cure yours?" Part of him suspected that she was enjoying her new powers more than she let on, but he kept hoping that she would see reason.

"I can't promise I'll find a solution," she said, his suspicions only deepening as she refused to meet his eyes."But I really need him."

Fitz sighed again, something he seemed to be doing a lot of lately, and slid off of the bench. "Fine. But I'm not leaving you alone with him."

He trailed behind as she practically sprinted out of the coffee shop, wondering yet again why he had ever left the lab.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Hello, all! Sorry for the long wait. I've been trying (and failing) to do NaNoWriMo, so this story has fallen behind a little bit. But look, a new chapter! Please read + review!

_IMPORTANT NOTE: This fic is co-authored by __**Caitlin51**__, and she and I are also co-authoring the other side of this fic on her account. It is called _"_**Crash and Burn" **__and shows this same story from the BioSpecialist viewpoint. I strongly suggest reading them both! While this fic will be a complete story in and of itself, as will the other one, they will complement each other, give you scenes and character perspectives that you normally wouldn't see, and give you large parts of the story that happen when the characters are split up._

Skye sat in the back of her van, shoulders against the door and arms folded tightly across her chest. She stared at the blank computer screen in front of her, trying (and failing) to convince herself to do something. Anything.

She didn't know why she was so shaken after her encounter with the man in the café. Experiencing someone else's emotions was never particularly fun, but it didn't usually leave her unable to form complete sentences. This time, when she hadn't been paying attention and had touched the man's arm, she had been completely overwhelmed. The rush of emotions that she had received from him had been stronger than any she had experienced in a long time, and she couldn't help but feel bad for him. He had been in such pain.

Sighing, she closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the cool metal of the van door. She took a few deep, slow breaths, trying to calm down, but her heart still felt like it was about to pound right out of her chest. Suddenly, she heard someone storm past her van. They must've been in a hurry, because she heard a clatter as they knocked something over.

She groaned, trying to ignore the noise and hoping whoever it was would leave as quickly as they showed up. But within a few seconds she was hit by a jumbled wave of thoughts and feelings. Whoever was in the alley was practically shouting their emotions, and if they didn't stop soon Skye was going to have a breakdown. Upset that her attempt to calm down was being interrupted, she slammed open the door of the van and stepped out into the alley. She didn't see anyone, but she heard some strange noises coming from the area behind the coffee shop. Wrinkling her nose at the smell of burning garbage, she stormed around the corner where she saw a tall man with his back towards her.

The closer she got to him the more she could feel his anger, so she shouted in an attempt to drown it out. "Dude! Could you turn the temper tantrum down a few notches? I'm trying to work."

He turned around slowly, brow furrowed as he faced her. His dark hair was a mess and he had circles under his eyes like he hadn't had a good night's rest in a long time. He remained silent, not acknowledging her presence with anything more than a glare.

Something about this man and the rage she knew he was feeling immediately unsettled Skye, but she was nothing if not stubborn, and now that she had yelled at him she couldn't back down. She folded her arms and raised an eyebrow, trying to sound as in-control and condescending as possible, "Okay...well...not talking is better than all the shouting and slamming, I guess…"

After another thirty seconds or so of silent glaring, he finally asked, "How long have you been there?"

"Been where? In this alley? My van's parked just around the corner. I was sitting there, minding my own business, when you stormed in and started trashing everything in sight, making it impossible to focus!"

"You don't want to be irritating me right now," he growled, taking a step towards her. "Get out of here."

If Skye hadn't been so nervous, she would've rolled her eyes. Sure, he was kind of intense, but did he really have to be so melodramatic? "Oh, I don't want to be irritating you? Maybe that's exactly what I want to do, Mr. Tall-Dark-and-Crazy!" She took a deep breath, and added, "Besides, I was here first!"

"This isn't a joke. If you stay here, you're going to get hurt."

Every inch of Skye was completely tense, the rational part of her mind screaming at her to run away. This guy clearly had some intense unresolved problems, and he looked both angry and strong enough to take her down in seconds if he snapped. But there was something about him that made her feel the insane need to stand up to him. "Are you threatening me?"

He threw his hands up, looking almost exasperated. "Yes! Now, leave."

Suddenly, a new voice piped up behind them. "Look, Ward. We're not done talking." Hearing the man in front of her groan, Skye turned around to see a petite brunette woman, who was apparently ignoring her, and the man from earlier in the coffee shop. The other woman continued talking to the man behind Skye, "I know that you're irritated and that you have some pretty intense psychological problems and anger issues, but I am a _scientist_ and I am going to get my answers whether or not you want to cooperate. Understand?"

Skye spoke up when the woman paused to breathe. "Umm...who are you?"

"Oh, uh, Jemma. Simmons," she quickly replied, obviously noticing Skye for the first time.

"Who...who are you? A friend of his?"

Leo, the man from earlier, muttered, "He has friends?"

Skye scoffed, "Ha! No. And if you are, _please _take him away."

"Oh, that makes sense," Leo said, and Skye couldn't help but smile. He clearly didn't like the crazy guy - Ward, the woman had called him Ward - any more than she did.

She felt another wave of frustration from Ward, and she turned back around to face him as he grumbled, "Why can't you just leave me alone? All of you!"

The other woman was clearly not deterred by his anger. "If you would just answer some questions and let me take a blood sample…"

"She wants to take your blood?" Skye interrupted, incredibly freaked out. "Are you _all _crazy?"

"I'm dangerous! Why does no one get that?"

This time Skye did roll her eyes, despite the rapidly growing tensions between the four people in the alley. "Oh, yeah," she muttered, "You're wearing a black t-shirt. I can practically smell the danger."

"A quick run of your DNA through my equipment-" The persistent brunette tried again, but Ward cut her off.

"I don't have pow-"

She interrupted him, shooting a worried look at Skye. "Not in front of civilians!" She then leaned in closer and tried to whisper, as if Skye wasn't standing less than three feet away from them. "You realize that you're smoking and this entire alley smells like the inside of a fireplace, right?"

"I don't have superpowers!" Ward denied, apparently not caring about 'civilians."

_Superpowers? _Skye was growing more uncomfortable by the second. What was wrong with all of these people?

Ward shouted at the woman as she tried yet again to protest, but everyone continued talking. Skye pressed her hands to her ears, trying in vain to block out the noise.

"But this is my only chance to find someone with powers, someone like me," the other woman said, "Maybe I should show him my invisibility."

And Ward seemed to be ignoring her, unfazed by her apparent invisibility. "They can't find out. Control. Breathe. In. Out. Cool your internal body temperature. Don't think about fire. Ignore the anger and the smell of smoke."

They continued arguing back and forth, with Leo occasionally piping up as well. The noise and the emotions were skyrocketing, and Skye finally couldn't take it anymore.

"Seriously?" she shouted, "What, in the name of all that is holy, is wrong with you guys? Fire? Invisibility? Why do you guys keep yelling about superpowers and lab accidents and..and..." she pointedly glared at Ward, "your freaking internal body temperature!?" She took a deep breath, calming down only slightly. "And you, Leo or whatever your name was, you seem fairly normal but are waffles really all you can talk about right now?"

Everyone was completely silent following her outburst, and for a brief moment she felt triumphant. But then she could feel their collective confusion directed towards her, and she realized with horror what she had done.

_Oh no…_

The past 24 hours had been a rollercoaster for Leo Fitz. After months of searching, he and Jemma had _finally _found someone who maybe, possibly, had some sort of superhuman ability. And the man had denied it. And then they had gotten mugged. And then the man had saved them, used his power, and continued to deny it. And then, after a particularly uncomfortable night of sleeping outside, they had followed that man into a coffee shop. And then a beautiful girl had freaked out after touching his arm, which, frankly, did nothing for his confidence. And now that beautiful girl was shouting at him in an alley, saying things that she couldn't possibly know. It was almost like…

"...what? How did you…?" Jemma spoke up next to him, clearly just as confused as he was. "Are you-"

"Are you reading my thoughts?" Ward finished Jemma's sentence. "Stay out of my head."

The thought of that girl, Skye, being able to read his thoughts made Leo immediately uncomfortable. "I don't-I wasn't _just _thinking about waffles."

"Can you read minds?" Jemma asked, her shock fading way too quickly. "How does it work? Would you be willing to let me take a blood-"

"What are you guys talking about?" Skye asked, cutting Jemma off. Her eyes were wide and Fitz could see that her hands were shaking even though they were clenched into fists at her side. "I can't-" She closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath and suddenly her face looked calm. "You guys are officially mental," she continued, opening her eyes and sounding almost like she felt sorry for them. "I hope you get some help, I really do, but I'm out of here." She pushed past Jemma, smiling weakly at Fitz as she passed him, and started to walk out of the alley.

That seemed to be enough for Ward, who said, "I have to get out of this insane asylum," and started to follow her out of the alley.

Predictably, Jemma stepped in front of him, grabbing his arm and stopping him in his tracks. "Not so fast."

The man glared down at Jemma threateningly, "You had better let me go right now before things get ugly."

"Woah," Fitz stepped towards them, worried about his friend who seemed not to worry about herself.

"Hey there. Leave her alone."

"Tell her to let go of me."

"Dude," Fitz turned to see Skye, who had apparently turned back after hearing Ward threaten Jemma. She looked concerned, and was slowly walking towards them. "You've got nearly a foot on her," she said to Ward, "Why don't you just walk away?"

"I wish it were that simple."

Jemma seemed to take this as a confirmation of her theory. "So it's true," she exclaimed, eyes wide. "You have powers!"

He was apparently tired of arguing with her, and he simply said, "I don't want to hurt you."

She didn't take his very obvious hint, however, and continued, "I can help you. Study you."

Fitz saw the man flinch at the word "study" and he knew that, while Jemma meant well, she was taking the wrong approach. "We're working on finding a cure," he said. "Well, we will be. If you'll just let her do a few readings."

Skye spoke up again, "Hold up, a cure?" She was trying to sound disinterested even as she took several steps closer to them. "Not...not that I care."

"A cure," Jemma affirmed, not taking her eyes off of Ward. "If I let you go, are you going to run?"

"No," he said after a long moment. "I'll help."

"Good, I'm glad to hear it. So," Jemma said, looking around, "everyone's coming home with me? I have a miniature lab in my apartment that'll do the trick."

Fitz looked between Ward's resigned face and Skye's hesitant one, and he couldn't help but wonder what they were getting themselves into.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: I'm so sorry this chapter took so long! Hopefully it won't be nearly as big of a wait between this and the next chapter. I love you all! Please, please, please review. Also, any ideas/inspiration/prompts are totally appreciated.

_IMPORTANT NOTE: This fic is co-authored by __**Caitlin51**__, and she and I are also co-authoring the other side of this fic on her account. It is called _"_**Crash and Burn" **__and shows this same story from the BioSpecialist viewpoint. I strongly suggest reading them both! While this fic will be a complete story in and of itself, as will the other one, they will complement each other, give you scenes and character perspectives that you normally wouldn't see, and give you large parts of the story that happen when the characters are split up._

"Tell me what I'm thinking."

Skye sighed, rolling her eyes and explaining for what felt like the millionth time that day. "I can't. I told you, it doesn't work like that." She leaned forward slightly, resting her head in her hands. "I can't just read your mind."

The tiny English scientist continued to rush around the small laboratory that she had set up in the spare room of her apartment. Skye admired both her energy and dedication, but after an hour and a half of testing and interrogation she was hoping that Simmons would slow down sometime soon. "How exactly do your powers work, then?" she asked, peering into a microscope rather than looking at Skye. "Because, in the alley…"

Skye didn't look up, answering tiredly, "It's not like in the movies, where you read someone's mind and hear a stream of dialogue. Nobody thinks like that. Your minds are a constant jumble of words and feelings and pictures and half-formed ideas. When I'm in control and really intent on someone, I can usually pick up on just bits and pieces of what's going through their mind at that particular time."

Skye tried not to jump as Jemma stabbed her arm with a needle, taking yet another blood sample. "So," she asked, barely pausing to take a breath, "how do you make sense of it all?"

Looking up at the woman in front of her and then past her to Ward, who was sitting on a stool in the corner trying to look disinterested in the conversation, she answered hesitantly, "Umm, I don't, really. I try to avoid using…reading thoughts as often as I can." She shook her head slightly. Being around these people was already starting to get to her. She had almost referred to her _condition_ as 'powers.' As if it was something exciting or fun or even useful.

"Fascinating." Simmons clearly wasn't paying any attention to Skye's discomfort. Fortunately, though, she seemed more intent on the sample she had in hand than on gathering any more information. Or blood. "Okay, you're done. At least for now."

"So," Ward suddenly jumped into the conversation, taking Skye's escape as an opportunity to interrogate Jemma, "now you can find a cure?"

More to herself than to anyone else, the scientist muttered, "If I just had a centrifuge and a couple detoxifying agents."

Looking back and forth between the distracted woman and the man who obviously didn't appreciate being ignored, Skye didn't need to read any thoughts to know another argument was rapidly approaching. In what she knew was a futile gesture, she spoke up, "So...what exactly is it that you're looking for...in our blood?"

"Hmm?" Simmons looked up at the sound of Skye's question, then shrugged. "I don't know, really. Any anomalies, especially if the anomalies are common to all three of our samples."

Fitz walked into the room, finally emerging from the kitchen area he had disappeared to a while before. Completely oblivious to the growing tensions, he asked, "Any luck?"

"I'm just getting started," Jemma replied, already having turned back to her notes.

Skye tried to shoot a pointed glance at Fitz but he was paying more attention to his sandwich than to her. She groaned quietly. Sometimes life would be so much easier if everyone could read minds.

At this point Ward said something characteristically grumpy and impatient, and Jemma instantly bristled. "Blood sample aren't exactly simple," she huffed. "I'd love to see you try to have one analyzed by now."

"Aren't you supposed to be some genius scientist or something?" he demanded, standing and taking a step towards her.

Fitz looked back and forth between them, and then to Skye, finally catching on. "Again?" he mouthed.

"It's been a whole half hour since their last argument. We were past due for one, really." She sighed mournfully, pointing to the food he was holding. "Is there any more sandwich stuff in the kitchen?"

He shook his head, swallowing shamefacedly. "No, this was the last of the bread."

The argument in the background was growing progressively louder, and Skye grabbed Fitz's arm. "Come on." She turned to face the other two people in the room, yelling slightly as she cut into the conversation so she could be heard. "Leo and I are going to the grocery store for a little bit. You guys want anything? No? Okay, bye!"

Dragging him behind her and grabbing her wallet and phone on the way out, she exited the apartment as quickly as possible. Once outside, she heard him breathe a sigh of relief that accurately reflected how she was feeling. "Are they always like that?"

He shrugged, "We only met him about…" He stopped, quickly calculating in his mind, "…twenty-four hours ago, actually."

She raised an eyebrow at that. There was a lot of tension between those two for being brand-new acquaintances. A thought came into her mind and she smiled wickedly. "They're gonna get together."

Fitz started choking on his sandwich and she felt a strong wave of disgust from his general direction, which really only encouraged her. "What?" he gasped when he regained the ability to speak. "No. Absolutely not."

"Yep," she nodded, "I give it two weeks. Tops."

He looked down at the remaining food in his hands, a frown on his face. "I think I've lost my appetite."

...

"What are your thoughts on potstickers?" Skye hefted the family-sized bag of frozen snacks off the shelf in front of her, peering down at the list of ingredients with mild interest.

"Can't you read my thoughts?"

She looked over at Fitz, who was standing next to her with the already almost-full shopping cart, and rolled her eyes. As if she'd never heard that one before. "Ha ha ha. You're hilarious."

"Seriously," he said, an adorable grin on his face, "What am I thinking right now?

She turned back to the bag she was holding, trying to look pensive. "Besides the fact that you'd much rather be here in the frozen foods aisle then back at the apartment watching Ward and Simmons aggressively stare at each other?" Her statement produced the desired effect, and she laughed at the disgusted look in his face. She shook her head, "It's like I told her back at the apartment: I can't just hear your thoughts. I can pick up on a big jumble of…everything you're feeling and thinking about," she shrugged, gesturing to the package in her hands, "but I can't just single out whether or not you like potstickers."

He frowned slightly, his eyebrows knit together, obviously deep in concentration as she tossed the food into the cart. "Is that what happened?" he asked as they started to walk again, "Back…there?"

She smiled shyly and avoided meeting his eyes, feeling suddenly uncomfortable at the reminder of what had happened that morning. "At the coffee shop? Yeah." She turned a corner into the cereal aisle and pretended to inspect a box of Frosted Flakes. "I usually try to avoid direct physical contact because it works—well, seems to work—as a sort of amplifier. It makes everything more…intense. But I wasn't paying attention back there, and I touched your arm, and it was…"

"A lot to take in?"

"Yeah."

He smiled sympathetically and changed the subject, and as they wandered around the nearly empty grocery store Skye couldn't help but think that, as much as she hated opening up to people, it was kind of nice to talk to someone who knew about her powers and didn't really seem to care. Maybe she was glad he had run into her in that coffee shop.

...

As they approached the front door of Jemma's apartment, grocery bags in hand, Skye suddenly stopped. Concerned, Leo stepped forward, but when he started to speak she quickly shushed him.

"Something's off," she whispered. Confused but unsure whether or not he was allowed to speak, he slowly set down the bags he was carrying. She turned to face him, a worried look on her face. "Were they planning on going anywhere?"

"No," he whispered hesitantly. "Knowing Jemma, she won't be leaving the lab for several more hours." Skye was facing the door again, her eyebrows drawn together and her head tilted slightly like she was listening to something. "Why?" he asked.

"There's no one in there."

"What? How can you tell?"

She shook her head, "Trust me, I could feel those two from a mile away. They've been giving me a headache all day. And now…nothing. There's something wrong."

She set her grocery bags on the ground as well as he stepped in front of her and slowly opened the door. Nothing seemed particularly off in the apartment, but it did seem a bit eerily quiet. Slowly, he walked through down the hall, Skye close behind him, listening intently for any sounds.

"Jemma?" he called, peering into the lab. She wasn't there either. He pushed open the door to her bedroom, the last door in the hall. At first nothing seemed out of place, but then Skye pointed to the open window.

"They left through there. In a hurry."

_Please review!_


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